Building blocks



April 26, 1960 N. STEULER 2,933,920 BUILDING BLOCKS Filed April 4,, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VE N TOR /V axes-R1- .57'504 ER g in/M Apnl 26, 1960 N. STEULER 2,933,920

BUILDING BLOCKS Filed April 4, 19 s? 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR NOKBERT .57'50; Er?

Wan M United States Patent 9 BUILDING BLOCKS Norbert Steuler, Hohr-Grenzhausen, Germany, assignor to Steuler-Indnstriewerke Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hohr-Grenzhausen, Germany The invention relates to a building block suitable for the construction of all types of buildings, e.g. chimney stacks and acid-proof chemical containers such as towers, which consists of two components; viz. of a brick provided with vertical cavities in the known manner-hereafter referred to as the perforated brick-and solid bricks-hereafter referred to as keys-which for performing the building operation are inserted into the cavities of the perforated bricks. Preforated bricks are known in a variety of designs. The vertical cavities in the perforated bricks are intended to perform a wide range of functions; it is for example possible to pass air through them in order to cool the wall. If such a brick is provided with several rows of cavities, which are preferably displaced with respect to each other, the passage of a corrosive liquid, which may perhaps penetrate the wall, is thereby prevented, so that corrosive liquidscannot penetrate from the inside to the outside. In order to prevent corrosive liquids from penetrating to the outside the inside faces of such bricks are also covered with a glazed surface; this latter is, however, liable to be damaged mechanically, so that corrosive liquids are able to pass through the brick at the damaged points.

The purpose of the invention is so to shape and arrange the cavities of a perforated brick that the perforated bricks and the keys can be combined to form a wall structure which can be loaded in tension in every direction, particularly in tension. For this purpose the cavities are of elongated cross section which narrow in the middle to form a waist and whose longitudinal axis is parallel to the longer sides of the brick which lie on the inside and outside of a wall; in each of the two shorter sides of a brick, a cavity open to the outside and of half the length is provided; and the cross section and height of the keys correspond to the dimensions of the cavities into which they are inserted.

Since in the finished brickwork the cavities are filled with keys, each brick can according to the invention be provided with at least two rows of cavities, which are preferably displaced with respect to each other, of which only those cavities, which are inside the brickwork, have a waisted cross section, whilst the cavities provided in the outer row or rows have the usual elongated shape and lie entirely within a brick. These cavities can for example be used in the known manner to provide ventilation for a building.

In order to provide a structure which can be subjected to particularly great forces the perforated brick can be stepped on the longitudinal axis of the cavities; if the perforated brick has several rows of cavities, the brick is stepped on the longitudinal axis of the innermost cavities according to the invention. The best method of manufacturing bricks which are stepped on the longitudinal axis of their cavities, possibly of the innermost row of their cavities, is to mould the material of the brick on a brick making press, simultaneously to cut it by a wire operated by the press in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the cavities, then to cut it to the required length, then to sepaand , 2,933,920 Patented Apr. 26, 1960 rate the two halves of the brick, cover theinternal surfaces of the separated cavities with a known glazing, place the two portions of the brick together again with one portion displaced with respect to the other by an olfset equal to the required height of step, brick.

Several embodiments serving as examples of the building blocks according to the invention are shown in the drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a portion of a structure consisting of perforated bricks with a number of cavities and keys inserted;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 11-11 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a building block in plan;

Fig. 4 shows a portion of a structure consisting of perforated bricks having two rows of cavities and steppped on the longitudinal axis of the inner row of cavities;

Fig. 5 shows a side view of a perforated brick according to Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a section on the line Fig. 7 shows a Fig. 4.

The perforated brick shown in Figs. 1 and 3 has a number of vertical cavities 1, '2, .3 having an elongated cross section which narrows in the middle to form a waist, so that the cross section "has approximately the VIVI of Fig. 4; and plan of a perforated brick according to shape of a dumbell or an egg timer. The longitudinal axis of the cavities shown by chain dotted in Fig. 3, is parallel to the two outer faces 4 and 5 of the brick. The brick is provided with a cavity 2 formed entirely within the marginal areas of the brick; it can of course also be provided with a number of cavities all lying in the same axis of the brick. As shown in the drawing the brick also has cavities 1 and 3--provided in each of its two shorter sides 6 and 7, these cavities opening on to the shorter sides of the brick, so that a closed cavity is formed by two juxtaposed bricks as indicated in Fig. 1.

In building a wall the bricks are displaced or staggered with respect to each other in the known manner as illustrated in Fig. 1. The cavities are filled with solid key blocks 8, 9, 10, portions of which engage in the half cavities of adjacent bricks of one course and also in the medial cavity 2 of a brick in an adjacent course. For clarity key blocks are not shown in the drawings in all the cavities. with keys over their entire height.

Since the cavities are waisted and since half a cavity, cut open along its longitudinal axis, is provided in both the shorter sides of the perforated bricks, the perforated bricks and the keys form a structural unit which, due to the keys filling the cavities, can resist very considerable tensile forces and further, since the keys, which due to their dumbbell shape can be inserted into the cavities only from above, cannot be removed sideways from the cavities which are formed when the shorter side of the bricks are placed side by side.

In Figs. 4 to 7 a perforated brick is shown having several rows of cavities which are displaced with respect to each other and of which only the cavities nearest to the inside of the wall are of waisted cross section. In Figs. 4 to 7 these cavities are labelled 1', 2, 3; the keys inserted into the cavities 1', 2', 3' are indicated by 8', 9' 10'. The cavities forming the outside row are labelled 11 and 12.

The perforated brick shown in Figs. 4 to 7 is of stepped form as shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

The manufacture of such a brick has been described above. An advantage of this brick consists in the fact that the inner surfaces of the cavities 1', 2' and 3 which lie on the inner row and also the sectioned surfaces 13 and 14 which lie between these cavities are simple to glaze during manufacture. Moreover the brick has the advantage of giving a particularlystable wall, since the and finally to burn the In practice all the cavities will be provided bricks can bedisplac edrwith respect to each otherduring construction in different directions. The key blocks 8, 9' and 10', which are inserted into the cavities, and the stepped contour of the bricks result in a structure which can stand up to exceptional loads.

What Iclaim is; 1. A building block comprising upper, lower, opposed side and opposed end surfaces, said block containing an intermediate cavity opening at said upper and lower surfaces, said cavity having an elongated cross section with a relatively reduced waist portion, said block also containing end cavities opening at said upper, lower and end surfaces, said end cavities having cross sections with relatively reduced mouth portions at said end surfaces respectively, said cavity cross sections having coincident axes of symmetry parallel to said side surfaces, and said upper and lower surfaces containing steps the vertical walls of which are in alignment and lie substantially along said axes, said cavities being adapted to receive key blocks. v

2. A building block as set forth in claim 1 wherein the surfaces of said block defining said cavities are glazed. I p

. '3. A building block as set forth in claim 1 wherein said block contains an intermediate cavity spaced from the; first and opening at said upper and lower surfaces.

4. A building block as set forth in claim 1 wherein said side surfaces are curved. 1 I

5. A wall structure comprising a plurality of building blocks as set forth in claim 1 arranged in courses with their cavities in registration, and key blocks having cornplementary cross sections extending into cavities of at least two adjacent blocks.

6. A wall structure comprising a plurality of building blocks as set forth in claim 5 wherein said key blocks are glazed.

7. A building block as set forth in claim 1 containing a row of cavities disposed between said axes and one of said side surfaces and opening at said upper and lower surfaces.

8. A building block as set forth in claim 7 wherein the cavities in said row are offset with respect to said intermediate cavity for registry with similar cavities in blocks of adjacent courses.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 379,027 Pickering Mar. 6, 1888 716,865 Choquet et al. Dec. 10, 1902 830,345 Mattson Sept. 4, 1906 1,527,874 Hood -2 Feb. 24, 1925 2,351,768 Kaping June 20, 1944 2,392,551 Roe Jan. 8, 1946 2,500,866 Ramsay Mar. 14, 1950 2,706,322 Davies et al. Apr. 19, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,017,203 France Sept. 17, 1952 

